Vienna and Ethan get a long great and he loves showing her the ropes. Unfortunately there are times when a fun afternoon turns to tears. Vienna and I were playing dress up when Ethan came in the room and decided to show her the new tricks he taught his dog. Vienna insisted that Ethan should no longer be the dogs rightful owner. Ethan ran out of the room with his stuffed doggy and Vienna sprawled out on the carpet in full tantrum. I wiped away her tears and slowly rocked her to sleep. It was about that time of day when a nap was more than needed. I watched her sleep from my rocking chair and caught up on some reading. Reading- a wonderful thing i rarely get to do.

What a handsome man!!!

My kids love playing dress up whenever they get a chance. I haven't bought costumes in a while so most of the costumes hit Samuel mid calf and don't zip up in the back, but that doesn't seem to bother the boys. Samuel and Ethan take turns dressing up as Spiderman, Fantastic four, army commando and too many other characters to name one by one. I love seeing the cool costumes they invent. On those inventing days their organized clothes are guaranteed to be sprawled all over the floor waiting for me to neatly fold them yet AGAIN. I have been blessed to receive lots of wonderful suites and pants in years past for about every stage. Dressing them up for church has always been a blast.
I was folding clothes on my bed and caught of guard when Samuel yelled, " Mam you are under arrest. " I looked back to find Samuel fully dressed in church clothes with a huge grin on his face. He was " SPY GUY aka BOND- JAMES BOND. As he was describing how he picked out his choice of attire he stopped mid sentence and said," Mom i forgot to get Gel." I agreed with him - all spy guys have to wear gel. We headed to Sam's Gel stash and found something titled GLUE. I felt that was an appropriate title for the occasion so we started to pile on the glue and make silly hairstyles. I ran downstairs to get my camera and started snapping away. I love moments like these. I had just finished putting away my third load of laundry and i desperately needed a good laugh.

Samuel finds a little bird- again

About a two years ago we thought that our house might have some very uninvited guests so we hired a pest control company to spray every month and set traps in our garage. The only thing we managed to catch was a tiny little bird that sadly found himself wandering into one of our poison glue traps. That morning Samuel wandered as well into the garage and found the little bird half dead and he went ballistic. Sam and i rushed to see what was the matter and we found Samuel crying and all he could say was," Daddy save him, please save him." Sam and I exchanged a glance of frustration and knew that there was nothing we could do for this little bird that was half dead and completely stuck to the plastic glue box. We sent Samuel inside the house and told him that daddy would help him get back to his mother. We thought at the time that was the best thing to say since he was so distraught over this poor little bird. Minutes after sending him inside he burst open the garage door only to find Sam putting the bird out of his misery and setting him in the trash. Samuel couldn't stop crying and calming him down was practically impossible. That memory is one i will never forget and a situation i wish we had handled much differently. Unfortunately all those memories came flooding back Friday morning. Samuel came in sobbing after playing in the back yard. He told me he found a little birdie in the backyard and tried to help him fly again, but he just kept falling to the grass. So we all followed Samuel to the birdie who was alive and well, but seemed to be missing two toes. What Samuel said next made me want to cry. With tears in his eyes he looked at us and said," Daddy don't kill him like you did the other birdie - PLEASE- I will make him my pet and take care of him." We knew that was out of the question, but we had to solve the problem. I told Samuel that we would call the wildlife rescue to see if they would come to pick up the birdie. His attitude changed and he was gun hoe to help me get this birdie to safety. To make a long story short we followed orders and put the birdie in a basket with straw and hung it from a tree. The wildlife lady said emphatically," 8 out of nine times the mommy bird comes back to get her baby." A few days past and Samuel would check on the little birdie morning- noon- and night. I am sad to say that we did our best. The birdies mommy never came and he died. Samuel was very thankful to us that we didn't give up on the little bird. My son has a very big heart and we are so thankful to God for the appreciation, love and concern he has demonstrated for life at such a tender age.

Andrea Congrats!!!

I finally received a picture of my little sisters graduation. I have to share this picture being the very proud older sister that i am!! She is the most beautiful girl both inside and out. She has an outgoing and independent spirit. The distance between us and my very pregnant state makes it very difficult to participate in such special occasions such as this one. I only wish that i could have seen her walk down the isle to receive her very hard earned diploma. I wish i could have gathered with my family around my Aunts big table to celebrate what her future holds, laugh and talk about our memories of her as a child. I have missed out on a lot of special memories that my family has had and sometimes it make me very sad. Hopefully after this baby is born i will venture to and fro with little ones in tote for a casual weekend up North or Down South. I will convert my LARGE SUV to run partly on water to make no excuses for not being there when such special occasions demand it. I know most of the nations family's face the same dilemma as i. Enjoying moments that can't be repeated through pictures and email. It's very hard to believe that my little sister is no longer the little baby i used to cuddle to sleep and stuff her pudgy cheeks with oatmeal. She graduated with honors and plans on attending Miami Dade in the Fall. She is working very hard this summer and gaining valuable experience in the workplace.

Macalaaca - I love you!!

Pretty Baby

She didn't hesitate when i pulled them out of the bag. It was like she always knew that this is what they were used for. How could she know? I never use rollers- on the contrary i use an straightening iron to get rid of those obnoxious curls that frizz on me during the summer time. Vienna sat in front of me quietly as i put each roller in her hair. Her hair is very thin and very straight. Only when she finishes her bath and i add a little cream to her hair can i achieve to get a glimpse of what a curl would look like. She was so delighted and couldn't stop smiling when i did her hair. When i finished putting the rollers in she made sure that her daddy and brothers noticed her transformation. She walked up to each of them whacked them for attention and then smiled. When time had come to take them out her facial expression of happiness quickly turned to discomfort. I had sprayed some hairspray and the rollers did not come out as gently as they had gone in. Growing up i played with dollies and did what every little girl does: I changed their diapers, dressed them, built a tent out of sheets for them, strolled them around the house, nursed them just like my mommy did and now to see her playing and loving to participate in such things i am in heaven. My mom recently found in a box a cloth front pack i used to carry my dollies around the house in. Vienna is now playing with it and i can't help think WOW - is this my baby that was just born 18 months ago.

July 4

• On July fourth we decided to go get some delicious burgers. If you have never been to RED ROBIN you need to make a visit soon. The burgers are pricey,but worth every penny. The options are endless and for the healthy goers the chicken Sandwiches rank right up there with the juicy burgers. Samuel was feeling a little upset to his tummy that morning, but insisted that he would feel better once he ate. I had a little feeling his tummy ache was just the start of something else, and I was right. I have learned to always carry a thermometer with me where ever i go and when Samuel started turning white halfway through the meal i knew it was time to use it. Sure enough he had a fever of 101 degrees and we called it a day. We headed home to take care of Samuel and celebrate the holiday. Sam left to buy a couple of fireworks and sparklers for the boys to enjoy later that night. Sam had quite an audience of neighborhood kids watching and begging for Sparklers once the show was over. Vienna was really scared and had such a bewildered look on her face she didn't know what to make of the loud noises. Samuel had a persistent fever that never broke till Monday morning. It was the weirdest illness i have ever seen. All the kids eventually got it, but it was truly baffling. They all complained one day of a tummy ache and headache, but other than that it was just a high fever for 5 days. I am just glad to be over of it. I checked out a lot of wonderful books at the library on our nations holiday. Hopefully we can get to it this week-better late than never.

The Yankees

Samuel is a Yankee and loving it. He slides into home plate every time he rounds the bases. His encouraging chants can be heard all the way from the positions he plays. His team this year is wonderful and we are blessed to have a great coach. As many unhappy parents can probably attest this is a huge deal. I wouldn't have put up with a horrible coach anyway. Sam coached third base at Samuel' s first game and had a great time arguing more than one play to a very ROOKIE umpire. That umpire should have had his rules memorized like Sam does then he wouldn't feel so silly when a parent calls him out quoting pages from the rule book verbatim. I love it. Samuel's first game was a tie and his second was a win by 2 runs. The games are on Saturday mornings early and the field is perfectly close to the parking lot so i don't have to walk a mile to get there. His practice was canceled tonight because of thunderstorms which seem to greet us every late afternoon. We need this rain so badly. Hopefully it will come without fail everyday and our brown grass won't feel so painful underfoot.